Colour Printing - where to start?

I would like to do some 8x10 contract prints from colour negatives. I saw some colour 8x10 contact prints a few years ago and was really impressed, but to be frank, I have a bit of a phobia with regard to colour processing which is why I have not yet tried it.

I have a Jobo ATL-3 so there is no technical reason I shouldn't give it a go, and I am really only interested in colour printing right now, not developing negatives. Can anyone recommend a good source to get me started (book, website, etc.)? Are there any photo stores that are better than others for chemistry and paper?

For chemicals, Argentix is close and has some choices (and is an APUG advertiser): http://www.argentix.ca/index01.php?=SID

Beau Photo can source what you need, but you may have to tell them what you want.

Adorama and B & H have paper. Kodak is only available in rolls (although there may be some people that are cutting it down into sheets). Fuji is available in sheets. There are some others available as "house brands" as well (Mitsubishi?).

A lot of people here seem to order from Unique Photo.

Doc W said:

I would like to do some 8x10 contract prints from colour negatives. I saw some colour 8x10 contact prints a few years ago and was really impressed, but to be frank, I have a bit of a phobia with regard to colour processing which is why I have not yet tried it.

I have a Jobo ATL-3 so there is no technical reason I shouldn't give it a go, and I am really only interested in colour printing right now, not developing negatives. Can anyone recommend a good source to get me started (book, website, etc.)? Are there any photo stores that are better than others for chemistry and paper?

Click to expand...

The hard part is the expense of 8x10 color film. If you can get by that the rest is fairly inexpensive and rather simple. You don't need any special instructions beyond what comes in the kits. You might want some color print viewing filters for judging filtration, unless you have a color analyzer or some other fancy doodads that I've never had and never felt a need for. If you don't have a color head you can buy cc filters for a black and white enlarger. Start out at about 50m 50Y and you should be close enough to start fine tuning the color from there.

Dear Doc W,

Find a Kodak Color Darkroom Dataguide online. Look for a newer one so that the example photos will not have faded too badly. Mine is from 1996 and it looks pretty good. The book Color Photography by Henry Horenstein has an easy to follow description and nice example photos, but pretty much every book that approaches the subject will work for you. My biggest warning is that eventually you will agonize over differences that your friends and relatives will swear are not there.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

Hi Doc,

I've tried many things when learning color printing. What I find the most efficient is this:
* Get fresh good quality paper and chemicals!!! DO NOT try to learn with expired paper.
* While learning, always use exact same film for your negatives.
* Buy a color wheel at any arts store. This helps with identifying how off your color is when printing, and more importantly, in which direction. Our eyes are very good at color compensation, so you really need some reference for comparison.
* Take a photo of somebody holding a grey card in neutral or your target light. Practice with that negative before trying anything else. This will give you a starting color balance. Grey is the hardest tone to match, but once you do, you've got your filtration. At this point all you need is minor adjustments and you'll do the rest of your negatives in a heartbeat.

That's it. It's actually easier than it seems. Good luck! PM me if you get stuck.

Eugene.

Once you get set up do a colour ring around like described by Kodak -Done right this test will be the most valuable source for colour correction moves.

I strongly recommend having a "standard negative" on hand. This mean taking something specifically made for this purpose, like a MacBeath color
checker chart, and precisely exposing it under ideal conditions with respect to lighting color temperature and correct exposure. If you can't afford one
of those, then you could use a bunch of chips from the paint store; but the real deal with have truly neutral gray patches at distinct gradations, along
with saturated primaries (YGB) and secondaries (CMY), plus a number of other relevant sample hues. These are very carefully printed so that if any
one of them underwhelms or overwhelms it's related neighbors, you know your color balance is not correct. Same goes for the gray scale. Of course,
no color neg film itself is perfect, and each paper batch will be a little bit different. But life is a lot easier with a known starting point.

This is a good resource: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j39/j39.pdf

The Kodak Ektacolor RA chemicals to make 10 liters, used one-shot, will be enough to do around 140 8x10 prints (based on my use of 70ml developer and bleach/fix per 8x10 print in a Cibachrome drum on a Unicolor Uniroller; not sure what your Jobo requires).

The chemicals are:
- Kodak Ektacolor RA Developer Replenisher RT to make 10 liters (Kodak #8415580)
- Kodak RA Bleach/Fix to make 10 liters (Kodak #6601629)
- No starter is required

Use fresh paper, as recommended by others, and refrigerate it when not in use. I've found Fuji Crystal Archive Type II paper to be the best quality (Fuji #600008967 for 8x10, 100 sheets, lustre finish; glossy and matte also available).

Good luck, you will be able to produce excellent quality color prints.

Overall, RA4 color printing is fairly easy. Two more things I'd emphasize is to have good ventilation. Or do what I do, load your processing drum in
the dark, but then run it outdoors in a shady spot if weather allows, or somewhere with decent air. Monitor chemical temperature carefully. You need
an effective water bath that holds temps steady. And yes, you might look into en enlarger and try something a bit more affordable than 8x10 color film to initiate the learning curve. Color negs are obviously not like chromes, because you can't just slap them on a light box and know what you've
got without a lot of prior experience. You either have to outright print them or have some other avenue to assess the color. Most pro labs that process C41 sheet film can also provide either an economical scan or a proof sheet to allow you to make certain decisions prior to doing a high quality print.
I'm an 8x10 addict myself, though I generally enlarge them. But from time to time, I have to revert to smaller formats due to the expense of 8x10.
Crystal Archive paper itself is quite economical.

This is what got me started: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)